


The Milk

by AwayLaughing



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Caretaking, Gen, Mild Blood, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 13:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7643194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwayLaughing/pseuds/AwayLaughing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi tries, he really does, but in the end the rules and his own limitations mean there's only so much he can do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Milk

Ani had lived in Konoha all her life, as had her parents and even their parents, who in turn remembered the Shodaime even to this day. No, they weren't ever shinobi, but they were an important part of life all the same. After all, someone had to provide a place to get food. That said, she'd had limited contact with the various shinobi in the village as a whole. As a child, the Academy and the civilian school had been about a block apart, and had started and ended at different times of the day _and_ year. Sure, people who lived near by came in to buy food or lottery tickets or rent a video, but it wasn't the same.

 

And it certainly wasn't like this.

 

She hadn't even noticed him come in, too busy flipping through the book her grandmother bought her for her birthday last week. She'd heard someone in the refrigeration section but hadn't thought much of it. It wasn't until a blood smeared jar of milk was thumped down on the counter she looked up. A bone pale mask, lined with thick red into the artistic representation of some sort of dog or...something stared back.

 

Ani froze, eyes locked on the blood splatter and the way the ANBU leaned against the counter. There was an _ANBU_ in uniform standing, or rather leaning, there. His arm was covered in blood up to the elbow, his silver hair was matted down with so much blood she wondered in a distantly terrified way, if it would stain.

 

“-sall.”

 

She blinked, not having realized he'd spoken. “What?”

 

“tha's all,” several bloody ryou were slapped onto the counter. The milk was taken back in hand, and he stalked off without taking his change, or even waiting for Ani to offer him any. Ani poked the bloody coins carefully for a second before grabbed the counter cleaner and a dry rag.

 

Hachi-kun was not going to believe this.

 

While Sato Ani carefully cleaned off what would be the last of the day's economic bounty, the ANBU, one Hatake Kakashi, was half way up the outer wall of an apartment building down the street. His ribs hurt, his arm was going numb for overuse of the Raikiri, his eye was running and his head was pounding like a thousand hammers, but he paid it no heed. He could collapse in his own shower in a few minutes, but first, he had a very important mission.

 

He knew from extensive experience that it was exactly 503 steps from the corner store to the row of windows that lead to his target destination. Tonight was no different, and just like every other night the backyard was empty. A few children's toys had been left out, and Kakashi noticed that a family with a dog had moved in at some point.

 

Wincing, he pulled his chakra into his feet and started walking. One foot in front of the other, up four stories and stop outside the window with the partly broken shades. Then, stretch every sense to make sure the person inside was asleep like they should be. The inhabitant was asleep, and so infiltration could proceed.

 

Getting into the apartment was still sinfully easy, reinforcing Kakashi's suspicions that the Hokage's office was not taking his security reports seriously. Some might argue something about Kakashi's calibre, but Kakashi knew genin who could have done this just as easily. Setting the bottle down quietly on the floor, Kakashi took a moment to scrub down the blood flaked on the sill. Better than smears, and he stood there only long enough to make sure none of his other wounds had manage to leak out of their dressing.

 

Then he surveyed the apartment. It still looked like an unattended child lived here, which was comforting in it's own twisted way. There was clothing piled in a corner that even from here he could tell was clean, and ramen cups had been shoved into the trash near the door. It was quite bare, still, and Kakashi could hear the tiny, quiet snores in the door across from the window he'd entered in.

 

For a moment, he wanted to open that door, to _see. To_ make sure everything was alright, but he couldn't risk it. He could complain about security all he wanted, so long as he was never caught over stepping his bounds. So instead, he inspected the other windows he could, and the front door. At the very least, a less easily picked lock had been installed but it wasn't quite what Kakashi thought was enough.

 

It probably couldn't ever be enough.

 

As there was nothing he could do that was both effective, accessible and not incredibly obvious, so Kakashi went back to his milk. Picking it up, he saw more blood on it, and scowling his rubbed it on a clear part of his uniform until it was clear. He made his way to the tiny kitchen. It was clean, clean enough, in fact, that Kakashi doubted it was used very much at all. That was the only explanation for why it didn't match the chaotic mess of everywhere else he could see.

 

As quietly as possible he opened the fridge. This was not that quietly, as fridges weren't designed to make potential infiltrations easier. For a moment, he listened to make sure the noise didn't give him away, then, he carefully removed the few things he needed to before he reached his goal. True to form, the milk was half finished and visibly curdled and Kakashi felt a tired smile tug at his lips.

 

He wasn't certain Minato had ever finished an entire bottle of milk, either. For a moment, he felt the familiar pain at the thought of his old sensei creep over him, helped along by exhaustion, blood loss and chakra loss. Maybe together Naruto and Minato could have finally finished one.

 

But he couldn't afford those thoughts, not now, not ever.

 

Replacing that one with the new one, Kakashi overrode his instinct to put everything in the exact same place. Naruto wasn't yet at the point that he noticed when his fridge was re-ordered. The day he was, Kakashi would have to up his game, but for now he left the milk in clear sight. No reason to waste the whole bottle, he reasoned.

 

His mission complete, Kakashi quickly scaled back down the building. Snow had started and Kakashi risked pushing off his ANBU mask and pulling his personal mask down to allow the cool crystals to touch his whole face. All around him it was quiet. Konoha never slept, but it wasn't loud once the sun went down, and Kakashi revelled in that right now.

 

“There you are.”

 

Kakashi covered his face quickly, turning to see his vice captain perched on the fence around the property.

 

“You were supposed to report to the hospital, Hatake,” she said.

 

“I'm going, ma'am,” he said pulling his ANBU mask into place. “I just had something I needed to see too, first.”

 

“It couldn't have waited until after you had all the blood your body needed to survive?” she asked.

 

“...No.”

 

He saw her copper coloured eyes track the building, trying to guess where he'd been, or maybe knowing and trying to guess who was in there.

 

“Alright,” she said, “come with me and I won't tattle to the captain on you.”

 

“Of course, lieutenant,” he said and she snorted.

 

“See this,” she circled her face, “no mask, no rank.”

 

“As you say, lieutenant,” he said and got another snort. As they started walking, he almost thought she was going to let it lie. He even almost thought he was going to be able to walk without wobbling.

 

“Does it help?” she asked.

 

For a long moment he couldn't think of how to answer, and he wobbled slightly as they exited the backyard onto the street. To his relief, she didn't say anything to interrupt his thoughts, just leaned against him subtly. They were past the corner store again before he found the answer that best explained everything. 

 

"It's all I can do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes people whine about Kakashi not doing more for Naruto as a kid, but given his obvious extreme depression, I think that's incredibly unfair. And besides, I doubt he completely stayed out of Naruto's life, even if the only ways he was in it were ways Naruto couldn't really appreciate.


End file.
